Hundreds of kilometers away from Five's dungeon, Harriet was calmly riding a thunder eagle. She could not wait to return to the dungeon but at the same time, she did not want to push too hard on the thunder eagle. The poor beast had already been flying for two days straight without resting, Harriet already felt bad for it and did not want to ask for more.

While she looked completely fine, in reality, the harpy queen was secretly suppressing her injuries. If Five was standing in front of Harriet, he would immediately see that the debuff, [Injured] was being applied to her.

[Injured]

Effect: Reduce all stats by 10% and maximum HP by an additional 10%

Duration: 23 days and 10 hours

Note: It is possible to shorten the duration of the debuff by applying the appropriate medicine. As the duration decreases, the effect of the debuff weakens.

Harriet completely ignored her injuries as she observed the landscape; by now, she was already used to the pain. The thunder eagle was currently flying above a lush forest but a few kilometers ahead of them, Harriet suddenly saw the outskirts of a small town.

She did not know much about towns, but it was obvious that it was a recently built one that was growing at an insane speed. A lot of empty plots of lands could be found among the new buildings. While the town was surrounded by a small palisade of wood, the foundation of another layer of walls was being set a few meters away. It was obvious that the mayor of the town had great ambitions and was planning ahead.

The town looked strange to Harriet; it was not as compact as the Dominion City. Instead, there were a lot of open spaces and strangely, some trees could be found along the streets. More importantly, what intrigued Harriet was that as she was nearing the town, she started to feel the presence of a dungeon.

It was not abnormal for her to found dungeons here and there but it was the first time she was discovering one right in the middle of a town!

Harriet was carefully examining the town; she was not sure how the dungeon master would react and decided to stay on her guards.

As the thunder eagle was about to reach the town, a bright silhouette suddenly emerged from the largest building of the town and started to fly in the eagle's direction. Harriet squinted her eyes as she observed the newcomer. That person was a modestly dressed woman; she looked pure and innocent as she flapped her angel wings. The woman was extremely pretty and wore a kind welcoming smile. At the same time, she was emitting a gentle soothing aura.

However, Harriet only sneered at the woman and signaled the eagle to stop. With just one look, Harriet saw through the woman's disguise. On the outside, she looked like an angel but thanks to Harriet's higher level, she could easily see through the illusion.

"A succubus?" thought the harpy queen as she waited for the woman to reach her. She understood that she was trespassing onto someone else's territory; the succubus was probably one of the monsters of the dungeon.

"Hello! My name is Venus, the guardian of Venetia, the town you see down there," said the succubus as she approached Harriet. Her voice was sweet and enticing but Harriet was immune to it.

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"I don't trust people who wear a mask!" answered Harriet as she crossed her arms.

"Hmmp," as she heard Harriet, the succubus immediately smiled, dropping her act. The next second, her real appearance was revealed; the angel wings disappeared and were replaced by demon wings, her long white dress transformed into a very revealing outfit, while a slim tail appeared behind her.

"I should have known that you could see through my disguise. Anyway, this is my mistress' town and we don't allow anyone to fly above it! You have already entered our territory, please make a small detour, unless..." said the succubus.

"Unless what?" asked Harriet. She did not know why but she felt annoyed whenever the succubus would speak and swing her tail. Going around the town would not affect her by a lot, only causing her travel to take an additional 10 minutes but Harriet's pride would take a blow. It was just a small town and the succubus was clearly weaker than her, why did she need to lower her head?

"I am sure you have detected the dungeon core under the town! The dungeon was recently founded, and we are actively looking for monsters to join us. What do you think?" asked the succubus. She gently licked one of her fingers while looking at Harriet with anticipation.

The harpy queen briefly looked at the town and secretly manipulated the wind. "Sorry, just like you, I also belong to a dungeon and if you will excuse me, my master is waiting for me at home!"

Without waiting for the succubus' answer, Harriet quickly signaled the thunder eagle to make a detour and left the succubus behind. Harriet was not scared of fighting there but since it was another dungeon, it was better to not randomly create enmities between that dungeon and Five's. Besides, when probing the town, she immediately found 10 of other succubi hiding in the houses, ready to take action. The interesting part was that each of those normal succubi was at least as strong as Ariel and Alice.

...

The next night, the Shaman and Mira were quietly waiting near the waterfall. "Look at this Wild Seren and remember its appearance! You can easily confuse it with Sunset Clovers but the two plants have completely different effects!" explained the Shaman.

The two continued their lesson for a moment until a familiar flapping of wings was heard. Mira immediately raised her head, "Angela, you are finally here!"

"Sorry for being a little late, my master is on his way," answered Angela as she slowly landed in front of the two.

"No problem, can you take Mira away for a moment and teach her how to distinguish these herbs? I have to talk to your master for a moment," asked the Shaman as he pushed a small pouch full of herbs toward Angela.

The latter nodded, "Come with me Mira."

Merely a few seconds after the two girls left, the Shaman detected Five's presence. He was slowly making his way toward the Shaman. "I see that you are already wearing it," said the Shaman as he raised his hands to greet Five.

"Yeah, it is indeed effective," answered Five as he touched the amulet in the shape of a skull attached to his belt.

"Just remember that powerful beings will easily see through the amulet!"

The Shaman made himself comfortable and waited for Five to sit down. "Let's talk about our deal. Almost one week has passed, how was it on your side?"

"Quite good, I have no complaints and I believe it is the same for you?" asked Five while innocently smiling. He already knew what was coming next.

"The terms of the deal are good, but don't you think it is time to open up another floor to us? I believe that after a whole week, we have proved ourselves worthy of reaching the next floor," said the Shaman.

"Haha, I guess I was found out. I just wanted to make sure the deal would hold before showing more of the dungeon but there is no problem. Tomorrow, you can send your men to the fifth floor but be careful as the monsters there are quite strong," jokingly said Five.

"Thank you, I just wanted to make sure you did not forget about that. As more floors are opened, we will naturally send more people to your dungeon," calmly said the Shaman, trying to probe Five's reaction.

As he heard the Shaman, Five internally smiled. The Shaman was indirectly proposing to send more people in exchange for more benefits but Five was no fool. At the moment, it was still in the middle of summer which was the ideal time for the barbarians to hunt and fill their reserves for winter. But soon, the situation would change, it would be pointless to send that many people in the forest to search for food.

When winter would come, the barbarians would eventually send their men to the dungeon by themselves. There was no real need for Five to provide benefits as this would happen eventually. He just needed to be patient and steadily grow; for now, the amount of DP he was earning was already quite significant. Instead, winter would be a critical period for Five; if he wanted to make an impression on the barbarians and create a dependence on the dungeon, it would be the ideal time to strike.

"There is no need to hurry, as we interact more, we will naturally change the terms of our deal to suit each other!" said Five as he kindly smiled.

"Haha, if there is nothing else, shall we once again swear our oath?" asked the Shaman.

"About that, there is one more thing I would like to ask."

"What is it?" curiously asked the Shaman.

"I heard from Angela that some townsmen visited your village today? May I ask a few questions about that?"